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| Everything in God's Time, not our time |
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is
this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me
thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And,
behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine
heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and
he counted it to him for righteousness. (Gen 15:2-6)
1 And the LORD visited Sarah
as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare
Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son
Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years
old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me
to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have
said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born
him a son in his old age.
(Gen 21:1-7)
In old England, a child born illegitimately (legal term,
bastard) held no civic rights to vote or hold public office. One such fellow
was a man named James Smithson (1765- 1829). He was born to the Duke of
Northumberland (but in France to cover the publicity of scandal). He became a
noted chemist and mineralogist. Not deeming it expedient to leave his fortune
to a country that denied him civic privileges, Smithson left his fortune to the
United States as expressed in his will: “"I then bequeath the whole of
my property, . . . to the United States of America, to found at Washington,
under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the
increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.” His generosity to the
United States certainly served his stated purpose. What has this to do with our
text under study today? Everything!
Abraham actually bore two sons – Ishmael (by a surrogate wife-servant girl),
and Isaac (by his God-given wife, Sarah). God had promised Abraham offspring,
but not through any scheme or connivance of human kind, but by His own Promise.
You will recall that Sarah, beyond child-bearing age, tried to help the process
along by allowing Abraham to have a child by her handmaiden, Hagar, and
engendered a world of woe and trouble in the offspring of that child, Ishmael –
the father of the Arab nations. God did not consider Ishmael to be the promised
heir of Abraham. He had already informed him that he would have offspring so
many of which would be as the “stars of heaven.” When God makes a
promise, it is no laughing matter (excuse the pun, Sarah). He promised Adam and
Eve a Seed that would bruise the head of the Serpent of the Garden. That
Promised Seed was the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is pre-figured in Isaac.
Abraham was one hundred years of age when Isaac was born,
and Sarah was ninety. Who would ever have suspected that these two old folks
could have a baby – certainly, Sarah did not think so. She even laughed at God’s
promise to give her conception. (Gen 18:12). Sarah was not the only one to
laugh: Abraham, too, laughed when told that he and Sarah would have a son: 17 Then Abraham fell upon his
face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that
is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? (Gen 17:17) God even named the son before
he was born as He had done for Ishmael as well. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed;
and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him
for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. (Gen 17:19)
Only a son born out of the Promise of God could satisfy the claims of the
Almighty. So Isaac was considered the only begotten son of Abraham perhaps in
the same way that fallen Adam was discounted as the son of God in favor of the
Lord Jesus Christ.(Luke 3:38) To show that God looked upon Isaac as the only
son of Abraham (according to the Promise), I submit the evidence of the
following documentation: 2 And he (God) said, Take now
thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of. (Gen 22:2)
There are so many ways in which Isaac qualifies as a type of Christ. Let us
examine only a few of the many ways Isaac typified Christ:
1.
Christ, like Isaac, was born miraculously in
conformance to the Promise of God. Isaac was born to a woman beyond
child-bearing years and who could not have born a child without a miraculous
intervention of God. Christ was born of the Virgin, but without the natural
complicity of man.
2.
Jesus Christ, too, is often referred to
as the son of Abraham (figuratively); yet, He was truly the only Begotten Son
of God – the Father of all who say, in sincerity and faith, “Our Father, who
art in Heaven…” Christ is both the Seed promised to Eve at Eden, and that
real Seed promised to Abraham at Mamre.
3.
Ishmael (son of the bondwoman, Hagar)
basely abused and mocked Isaac (son of the rightful spouse of Abraham) just as
the Jews (the children of the bond-woman, that is of the Law) abused and abased
Christ. (see Galatians 4:23-26)
4.
Both Isaac and the Lord Jesus Christ
are considered only Begotten Sons of their Fathers. (Abraham & God)
5.
Both Isaac, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
were led as lambs to the slaughter. In the case of Isaac, it was merely a test
of his faith given by God. God would not demand the sacrifice of any man’s son
for the redemption of sins – He would, instead, offer His own Only Begotten Son
for that purpose. But the test was to be a lesson to us of the greatness of
that sacrifice! (see Gen 22:7-8)
6.
Isaac was offered on the altar without
sacrifice. Any sacrifice placed on the altar belongs to God, and God would use
Isaac as the means by which His purpose would result in the coming Messiah.
Abraham considered Isaac as good as dead during that three day journey to Mt.
Moriah (the same upon which the Temple is built). Our Lord was dead in the
Garden Tomb for three days – and rose again from that tomb! Both Isaac and our
Lord were delivered from death on the THIRD DAY!
7.
Let us consider the spouse of Isaac and
of Christ:
a.
The wife for Isaac was searched out by an
emissary of his father, Abraham, from among their own kin. God the Father
sought out a bride for His only Begotten Son from among those kin of Abraham –
that is those who by faith are children of Abraham.
b.
Just as Rebekah abandoned her father
and family for her spouse, so does the Christian forsake all to follow the
Bridegroom of the Body of Christ (Church).
c.
Rebekah was decked out with precious
jewels and embroidery for her bridegroom, Isaac. So will the Bride of Christ
enjoy the same tokens and accoutrements? 7 Let
us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is
come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to
her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for
the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Rev 19:6-8)
d.
Rebekah “came to meet Isaac.” 63 And
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his
eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. 64 And
Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. (Gen
24:63-64) And in what manner shall the Bride of Christ meet her
Bridegroom? 16 For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1
Thess 4:16-17)
In my view, these
parallels mentioned above are more than striking – they are simply more
convincing proofs of the veracity of Holy Scripture. Such intricate nuances of
the story line of the Bible could never have occurred over the written text of
thousands of years, and by a variety of scribes. My love and admiration for God’s
Word is buttressed by every reading of it. There is a first time for everything
under the sun. To every thing
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time
to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that
which is planted; 3 A time
to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time
to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time
to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time
to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A
time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time
to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What
profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? (Eccl
3:1-9)
There is a first time
for EVERYTHING – even to acknowledge, without reservation, Jesus Christ as
Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and King of your life. Have you done so?
